On This Day October 19

1993
The Program: After several teenagers are injured and one killed while imitating a scene showing kids lying in the middle of a road as cars pass by, Disney announces it will cut the scene from the movie.

1987
U.S. attacks Iran: Four U.S. destroyers attack two Iranian oil rigs in retaliation for attacks on shipping vessels in the Persian Gulf.

1987
Subway Vigilante: Bernhard Goetz is fined $5,000 and sentenced to six months in jail for carrying an unlicensed concealed weapon. He had been acquitted of the shooting of four black youths in a New York Subway (1984).

1987
Largest one-day stock market crash in history: After a drop of 508 points, Pres. Reagan announces "There is nothing wrong with the economy!"

1983
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: The first federal annual holiday honoring a Black American is created when the U.S. Senate votes to set aside the third Monday in January to honor the birth (January 15, 1929) of the civil-rights leader.

1982
John DeLorean: The auto manufacturer is arrested for possession of 59 pounds of cocaine with intent to distribute. He plead not guilty and was later acquitted.

1976
New U.S. Copyright law: Pres. Ford signs into law the first major revision since 1909. It extended the copyright to 50 years after the author's death and made provisions for photocopying and television broadcasting.

1965
Ku Klux Klan: The House Committee on Un-American Activities begins public hearings on the Ku Klux Klan. This was the first public investigation by the committee which didn't concern communism.

1952
Atlantic Crossing: Frenchman, Alain Bombard, begins his solo voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in a 15-foot long boat with almost no provisions. He survived by eating raw fish and plankton, although he still lost 55 pounds. He completed his journey on December 23. He just wanted to prove that it could be done.

1936
First around-the-world airplane passenger race: Herbert Roslyn Ekins - after using only commercial flying routes - returns to Lakehurst, New Jersey. He and two other reporters had begun the race on September 30th.

1919
First Distinguished Service Medal awarded to a woman: Salvation Army commander Evangeline Booth is awarded the honor.

1911
First airplane flight across the U.S. from East to West: Robert Grant Fowler departs Los Angeles, arriving in Jacksonville, Florida on February 8th.

1860
Abraham Lincoln: The future presidents responds to an 11-year-old girl's letter, saying it would be silly to start growing a beard; but he does so anyway.

1790
First battle fought by U.S. troops: 400 troops from the newly formed Union attack 150 Indians northwest of Ohio, and are forced into retreat.

1781
American Revolution: Cornwallis surrenders to Gen. Washington at Yorktown, ending the last major battle of the War.

1752
Ben Franklin Flies a Kite: Franklin describes his famous experiment, proving that lighting and electricity are related, in Pennsylvania Gazette.

1945
John Lithgow, American actor. Film: The World According to Garp (1982, played the transsexual football player), Terms of Endearment (1983), and Harry and the Hendersons (1987).

1944
Peter "Tosh" McIntosh, Jamaican reggae musician, with Bob Marley's Wailers until 1975. Music: Don't Look Back.

1932 d. 1992
Robert Reed (John Robert Rietz), American actor. TV: The Brady Bunch (father Mike Brady). He died of AIDS.

1931
John Le Carré (David John Moore Cornwell), British spy novelist. Writings: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963), Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974), and Drummer Girl (1983).

1922
Jack Anderson, American Pulitzer-winning columnist. Writings: Washington Merry-Go-Round (Pulitzer, 1972).

1899 d. 1976
Consuelo Northrop Bailey, American lawyer, politician, first woman to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court (1931) and first woman lieutenant governor (1954, Vermont).

1883 d. 1970
William Donahey, American cartoonist, created The Teenie Weenies (1914).

1876 d. 1948
Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown, American baseball Hall of Famer. He had the use of only three fingers on his pitching hand, giving him a natural knuckle ball.

1862 d. 1954
Auguste Lumière, French motion picture pioneer. He and his brother Louis developed the Cinématographe motion picture camera and projector.

1861 d. 1932
William John Burns, American detective. He preceded Hoover as head of the FBI (1921-24).

1856 d. 1946
Jonah LeRoy "Doane" Robinson, American historian, South Dakota's state historian. He conceived the idea for Mount Rushmore in order to attract tourism to South Dakota (1923). He also helped design South Dakota's state flag.

1833 d. 1870
Adam Lindsay Gordon, Australian horsebreaker, steeplechase rider, poet. He is the only Australian poet whose bust is in Westminster Abbey.

1817 d. 1880
Tom Taylor, English playwright. Writings: Our American Cousin (1858) which was being presented at Ford's Theater during Lincoln's assassination.

1810 d. 1903
Cassius Marcellus Clay, American politician, anti-slavery advocate. He published the abolitionist weekly The True American (1845) and served as U.S. minister to Russia (1861-69).

1994 b. 1916
Martha Raye (Margaret Reed), American actress, denture wearer. Film: Monsieur Verdoux (1947).

1983 b. 1944
Maurice Bishop, prime minister of Grenada (1979-83). He was killed by the forces of his Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard - A hard-line Marxist.

1937 b. 1871
Ernest Rutherford, British Nobel-winning physicist. He was the first to split the atom (1919). He also discovered the alpha particle (1904) and the proton (1920).

1911 b. 1885
Eugene Ely, American aviator. He was the first person to fly a plane from the deck of a ship (1910) and the first to land a plane on a ship (1911).

1897 b. 1831
George Mortimer Pullman, American inventor. He invented the railroad sleeping car (1864) with its folding upper bed.

1790 b. 1724
Lyman Hall, American settler, Revolutionary leader, signer of the Declaration of Independence, governor of Georgia (1783).

1745 b. 1667
Jonathan Swift, English author. Writings: Gulliver's Travels (1726).

October 19

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